Musician. Acclaimed composer and keyboard player. Regarded by many to be one of the most famous jazz musicians at the international level. Gruntz was a pianist, composer and founder of leading jazz ensembles. Born George Paul Gruntz into a family of music lovers, after training as a mechanic-electrician he studied at the conservatories of Basel and Zurich. In the '50s, he performed on piano and vibraphone at Zurich Jazz Festival, where he won several awards and where his talent was noticed by saxophonist Flavio Ambrosetti. In 1958, he played at the Newport Festival alongside musicians such as Louis Armstrong. In 1963, George became a professional musician and he accompanied several American artists in their European tours. In the 60s, he also began composing music for film and jazz suite and from 1970 to 1986, he was a composer and musical director of the Schauspielhaus Zürich. In 1972, he co-founded together with Flavio and Franco Ambrosetti and Daniel Humair, "The George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band", a big band that has achieved successes worldwide. Gruntz was also one of the few authors of jazz operas. The first, "World Jazz Opera" was staged in 1982 in New York. In 1988 followed "Cosmopolitan Greetings", presented at Hamburg and directed by Robert Wilson, and in 2003, "The Magic of a Flute" at the Menuhin Festival Gstaad. In 2002, Gruz published his autobiography entitled "Als Weisser Neger Geboren: Ein Leben Fur Den Jazz". In the last months of his life he continued to work and record new music in spite of a prolonged illness against which however lost his battle. (bio by: Ruggero)